Friday, November 15, 2013

RANDOM QUICKIE-1973 TOPPS JIM KAAT #530

OK.
You're a 14 year veteran pitcher in the Major Leagues.
You've won 11 Gold Gloves, won 25 games one year, and in 1972, the year before today's profiled card came out, you went 10-2 with a sparkling 2.06 E.R.A. In 15 starts.
So what does your 1973 card show you doing? BATTING!
 
"Kitty" trading in his glove for a bat.
 
You just have to love the fact that Jim Kaat's 1973 (#530) card has him swinging away at the plate!
I was actually tempted to make this one of my future "Gimmie a do-over" redesigned cards. But then the more I looked at it, the more I really liked it!
Great, quirky card of one of the better pitchers NOT in the Hall of Fame. 
I'm not saying he "deserves" to be in. But if it were up to ME, he would have been in years ago.
You just cannot ignore a 25 year career with 283 wins, 16 Gold Gloves, three 20-win seasons, 2461 strike outs, and 898 appearances. 
But for now, let's just enjoy this oddity and shake our head one more time over that 1973 set, which seems to get stranger and stranger with every look!

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